Emily Henry

Reading a book that is everywhere-buzzworthy is a precarious thing. I was afraid that was the case with my first official summer read. But I’m blaming that initial fear on the first 67 pages being read at night during the last week of school (not sure there’s anything that can keep an exhausted teacher’s attention late at night during the final days of a frazzled school year). Because the last 310 pages were devoured overnight—on my first official day of Summer Break. I laughed out loud (a lot); I was surprised; my heart hurt in moments; I loved the people, the place, and the plot. In short, this book has the answer to one of its central questions: can you have it all? The answer for this book is yes—yes, there are books that have it all, and this was the perfect one to start off my summer reading.… (més)

This is a story about coming to terms with the hard stuff: understanding our parents as more than what we thought we knew—more than a single story; living through death and the impossible grief that follows—being sorry that all you have is sorry; and risking to take the life you want to live with whom you want to live it. A Million Junes is more than a coming-of-age story—its an origin story. It’s about the thin space of magic where we learn to escape the sins of our fathers, rewriting a perfectly possible future.

“Together we step to the edge of the world and throw ourselves into the outstretched arms of the glittering sky” (254).… (més)

While the homage to Harry and Sally was evident, Poppy and Alex are also reminiscent of Gus and January—who I absolutely adore. I was thrilled to have some of what I loved from Beach Read in People We Meet on Vacation. I love Emily Henry’s witty characters, the easy banter, the snarky jabs. It’s easy to fall in love with her playful-serious characters as we watch them fall in love with each other.
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“My life turned out how I hoped it would, and now I just miss wanting something” (21).
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Poppy wants a life completely different from the one from which she came: a vanilla suburb where she stands out (and is bullied) as a colorful outsider. So Poppy pursues a life of unique (and worthy) experiences (far away from the Ohio suburban existence she’s fleeing), collecting spontaneous moments, luxurious vacations, but she realizes after a decade of summer vacations with her best friend Alex that it was less about where she was going and more about who she was going to see or meet along the way. And it was even less about leaving normalcy and more about coming home. In the end, she learns that life isn’t about what we want or what we achieve but who we want to be and with whom we want to live it.… (més)